The practical side of religious/spiritual beliefs

[Silver]

It's just a silly notion of mine, perhaps...really, I recently read that Freud was a cokehead. A serious cokehead. He's like any body else (any other cokehead, that is). He just made stuff up. Ego, super ego Id all that is just made up in some pathetic cokehead's mind. I see so many with emperor's new clothing on all around. I think ego is nonexistent. It's not even a reasonable 'meaning' I think it's a total illusion. I mean just try it. See ifr you can make sense of your ponderings without it.

Lol! If that’s true…………


I’m free!!!!!!!!

[Xan]

PaulChapmanTasmania:Anyways it feels kinda 'light' talking with ya, which i appreciate.

Glad to hear it, Paul.


Now... notice the quiet lightness in yourself... more and more... breathe and let go into it.

That's it!


Xan

Paul, you're confusing me again. The post I responded to sounded like you viewed Ego as something bad. Now your response is indicating that you view ego as a tool.

In performing self-examination we come to know what subconscious and ulterior motives might be operating that we do not wish to admit to ourselves. The compensation for low self-esteem is a process of building our house upon the sands. We can only build a house upon the rock when we go through our psyche and release our guilt, shame and self-judgment, that which separates us from our interior foundation. But the healing and shedding of our psychic trauma also is a process of releasing our personal identities so that we become in expression the qualities of our creator. To play off your languaging, we become the impersonal channel or vessel through which the creator bestows into the world, his creation. Until the ego chooses to commit itself to a life of service and facilitation, it sees its own desire as king. I (Ego speaking) did not commit myself to service and facilitation until I saw through self-examination that the fruits of my selfish desire tasted like ash. The other benefit of self-examination, seeing this ego in operation, is the witnessing of how all the internal pieces fit together. This self-knowledge about how this tool works helps me to maintain the efficacy of this tool as well as aid in helping others become effective tools in service of something higher. The path of self-inquiry, self-knowledge, is a legitimate path.

Originally Posted by PaulChapmanTasmania

great to hear from you again Topology, I missed you.

Paul, unless you have taken the path of self-definition, i.e. looking at yourself in the mirror and then looking to see what and who you really are, to any significant depth, then you're not in a position to judge the practice. - What do you think you are defining and with what tools? The senses, mind and heart function under the dominion of the ego, and here on in, ego means "I WANT".

Taking a belief system and running with it is not the best way to counteract ego, because ego had a hand in choosing the belief system. Can you counteract ego? and if you can, Why would you wish to lose one of the most important tools you have been given?

If you're really wanting to combat ego, I've found the best thing is to shine a light on the sucker and see what he's doing and why. - What did you discover?

The ego you fear having is the ego that hates being looked at, so your not wanting to look at it just might be it speaking its intention to continue its operation with you unaware of it. -Fear is inappropriately described here. It describes the ego in a form of dominion, instead of the ego in a form of assistance, and as i said before the ego will work 24/7 if there is a reward.
The fear I yearn for is that I will not be able to be in constant connection. Each step and process is to reveal the true nature of the ego.

[Silver]

Originally Posted by Maiya

Lol! If that’s true…………


I’m free!!!!!!!!

You got it.

Love it.

Originally Posted by Maiya

Can we just play with the ego some more? Let me tell you how I view mine and then you can tell me where I might be going wrong - or right.

There seems to have been a process of maybe three steps so far. Step one, the ego was the bossy, pushy parent. Step two, it became a demanding child. Step three, I began to recognise the ego as the demanding child and gave it a good talking to. The result looks like a tamed ego.

I used to think working to let go of the ego was what I was supposed to do in order to be more selfless but I don’t know if that is possible or even necessary.

Or maybe it’s a simple case of back to the drawing board.

Silver girl wrote: It's just a silly notion of mine, perhaps...really, I recently read that Freud was a cokehead. A serious cokehead. He's like any body else (any other cokehead, that is). He just made stuff up. Ego, super ego Id all that is just made up in some pathetic cokehead's mind. I see so many with emperor's new clothing on all around. I think ego is nonexistent. It's not even a reasonable 'meaning' I think it's a total illusion. I mean just try it. See ifr you can make sense of your ponderings without it.

Ego = The self, especially as distinct from the world and other selves.

To equate and therefore dismiss the word EGO based on a single persons character is ludicrous. The Ego that i refer to is the "Nature of the creation", I think that was before Freud?
And by creation i mean all that has emanated or manifested. NOT the emanating force of nature.

To think Ego is non-existant is like having one leg when you think you have two; you keep walking but in fact you get KNOWHERE.

You can not remove ego, it is your nature.

What ego is not: It is not being selfish, being narcisistic, bad, etc. etc. The ego is not even felt until the desire for spirituality emerges, up until then and way after people are completely dominated by conditioned environmental influences that govern how you think what yo wear, what yo eat, how you behave ......... there is no free will and consequently no ego as it has nothing to compare against ........ Even the pursuit for spirituality is initially dominated by conditioning.
You can make no advancement in spirituality until the ego becomes conscious.

Maiya wrote: I used to think working to let go of the ego was what I was supposed to do in order to be more selfless but I don’t know if that is possible or even necessary.

Becoming more selfless is egoistic code for "please let ME feel better"

Becomming selfless is indeed the destination but it does not involve removing any personal characteristics of who YOU are. You are a gift in perfection to all others who look upon you ........ From your own inner vantage point, when you try to connect to people and you begin to realise that all you want to do is use them, then the ego begins to show itself and ON TOP of that you connect anyway, 'LOVE covers all transgressions' means that it sits on top of them, it doesnt remove them, this letting go nonsense is ego code for ............. you got it ............ 'Please let me feel better' ......... or ......... 'Don't disturb me' .......... or 'bugger off, I'm having an ecstatic experience here' ......... lol.

Your ego works 24/7 to realise what your heart desires, when you realise that, all you have to do is agree (not that you can do this by yourself anyways), and eventually, what you might deem now as difficulties, become a welcome friend as they allow you to attract the next level of light (pleasure) in which you rise on top of again.

Nothing we do has any effect on the outcome (pay attention to the egos response here).

If we do not exert nothing will happen (confused TPLY? :-) )

There is nothing wrong with you ......... The perception of the self being separate from others and therefore distinct from Nature, is like the child who thinks their parent knows absolutely everything. At teh time it is accurate as things develop it shifts.

[Xan]

Although we may think that discussing the ins and outs of the ego will help us get free of its clutches.... It doesn't.

Instead we may discover our true nature which is beyond ego yet includes all. It takes an entirely different approach to really get free.


Xan

Originally Posted by Xan

Although we may think that discussing the ins and outs of the ego will help us get free of its clutches.... It doesn't.

Instead we may discover our true nature which is beyond ego yet includes all. It takes an entirely different approach to really get free.


Xan

What approach?

when people say things like "true nature of things" - this is no different than any religion saying "one true god"

i have always found it a little odd that people can say "i have experienced an ego-less time" -> no you haven't. if you had - you would have no recollection of it.

applying the discussion of ego to the thread topic - it is about you, yourself departmentalising your thoughts and how this can help with your approach to your daily life. its that simple.

there are no "mystic" connotations about it. IMOBIAAR............